2007 Great Northwest Excursion

Rita's

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Rita's

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6/11/7 Arrived without incident.  Got our rental beastie and decided to pay the extra bucks and take the insurance.  Drove around Tacoma and up to Port Angeles, where we took the ferry to Victoria.  Since we had reservations, we did our sight seeing before checking in for the night.  We saw the Provincial Capitol, a totem pole museum, the castle and a mountain top panorama of the city.  Went to bed tired but happy.
    
6/12/7 You might have noticed from day one's pics that I was wearing a jacket.  The temp was in the 50's with a brisk breeze. Today took a drive up Vancouver Island, stopping in Chemainus to see some 30 beautiful murals painted on the sides of their buildings.  Next, it was on to Nanaima to catch the ferry to Vancouver.  This was a much bigger boat with three decks for vehicles and two for passengers.  We took a quick look at Vancouver and I was surprised at how big it was.  Next, it was on to Whistler Blackcomb Ski resort dodging lots of road construction as they get ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics.  We spent a rigorous but beautiful drive through the mountains and then a serene and peaceful drive to Williams Lake for night two.
   
6/13/7 Today our main purpose was to gain as many miles as possible toward future destinations.  We were surprised to find, in a berg called Hudson's Hope, many chain saw sculptures.  We weren't in a position to get any pics, and I couldn't even find any postcards to reflect these really neat pieces of wood art.  We also stumbled on a very fast moving waterfall and did get off a shot or two.  About 100 kilometers onto the Alaska Highway in far eastern BC, it started to rain and we saw recent snow along the highway.  There were even some brief patches of slush on the road itself.  Despite this we made really good time and got to Fort Nelson, BC for our night's stay in plenty of time for a relaxing visit to the hot tub and laundry duty.  Have patience our pics will eventually catch up with each day's progress.  Brett is still tweaking the system.
    
6/14/7 Although this was another day to gain some more miles, there were many nice side benefits.  Although we spotted a couple of deer yesterday, today we really got to see several different beasties.  We saw carriboo, big horn sheep, a buffalo, and a small black bear.  Got to take pics of all of them except the bear.  Another treat was in the city of Watson Lake, Yukon.  Here they have a "forest" of signposts.  Remember the signpost on MASH showing the distances to various cities.  Well this was started in 1942 by a man building the Alaska Highway, and today sports over 60,000.  We got a few pictures for you to see.  Tonight we are in the capitol of the Yukon Territory, Whitehorse. So far it has rained a little every day, but never when we wanted to get out and see things. Yesterday we only had about three hours of night, and tonight we are another two degrees further north.  Should only have two or a little over hours of dark tonight. Tomorrow will be a very short drive, but packed with a lot of really terrific things to see.
6/15/7 Today it was good news and bad news.  Bad news, we had to scrap the auto ferry down the Lynn Canal, a natural fiord, and then drive from Haines to Haines Jct.  There was no room at the inn.  Seems there was a major bicycle event and the entire and surrounding towns were booked solid.  So tomorrow it's plan "B".  It rained on us until we got to the U.S. border, but the weather was perfect in Skagway.  The extra hour we got, because of the time change, allowed more time to see the quaint shops.  The narrow-gauge railroad train ride to White Summit was spectacular and well worth the three hours and $98.00 each to take it.  Brett couldn't shoot his camera fast enough.  We had to return to Whitehorse for the night, and as soon as we crossed the border, it started to rain again.  Plan "B" will allow us to sleep in a couple of extra hours and catch us up with our original route through Haines Jct.  In fact it will allow us to get a little further down the road and shorten the next two days drives.  The good news.
6/16/7 Today was a light day with no planned visits.  We had to use our windshield wipers again - that makes six days in a row out of six days, although just for a few minutes.  The most exciting part of the trip was the last 100 miles in the Yukon.  There were many places where the road was gravel, because they were preparing to repair it.  In other places the road undulated sometimes unexpectedly.  Felt like we were on a carnival ride.  Little red flags marked the worst spots, and most of the time you could spot the dips, but not always.  Made it an exciting drive.  One of the construction vehicles coming toward us at a rather fast clip shot a rock at the corner of our windshield.  We'll show it to Hertz when we get to Anchorage the day after tomorrow.  We made it into Alaska with an overnight in TOK, and are staying in a really neat hotel with lots of atmosphere.
 
6/17/7 Today we traveled from TOK to Valdez.  Although we only had to use the wipers twice it did make it seven in a row for rain.  The drive was nice, but the last hour was the most dramatic.  The mountains got very tall, up to 17,000 feet and were shrouded in low clouds.  Worthington Glacier was right off the road and two very spectacular water falls finished our drive into this port city.  We drove parallel to the Alaska Pipeline the last half of our trek and can see the oil terminal across from our hotel which is right off of the marina.  We checked in and got our tickets for the Ferry ride across Prince William Sound, took in the local sights, and are turning in early since we have to be in line to catch the ferry by 7AM.
    
6/18/7 Wow!  What an amazing day.  We left early to catch our ferry across Prince William Sound.  Not only was the six hour trip relaxing, but we got to see a multitude of sights - glaciers, waterfalls, other marine traffic, and many kinds of sea mammals and fish.  There were whales - humpback and orka, sea otters, porpoises, and a silver fish that leapt up from the water.  The Columbia Glacier, 2nd largest in Alaska, had calved many small icebergs, and we went through a whole field of them.  If that wasn't enough, the minute we got off the ferry, we had to line up for a special tunnel.  This tunnel in Whittier is a single lane, two and one-half miles long, shared by both cars and trains.  Exiting the tunnel, it was an easy one hour drive to Anchorage for the night and our first taste of Alaska crab.  Almost forgot, NO RAIN FOR THE FIRST DAY!
    
6/19/7 Today we drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks via Denali National Park.  Two in a row for no rain!  We were able to see Mount McKinley about 50 miles from Anchorage, it's totally snow capped peak sticking out above the clouds..  As we got closer, the clouds thinned and we got a really good view of it's 20,320 height.  It wasn't until we got to the Park, that I found out how lucky we were to view this mountain. During the summer, it's only visible 20% of the time.  Fairbanks was quite a bit smaller that I thought.  Brett got to play golf at the most northern USGA Golf course in the U.S. while I just rested at our hotel. Later we went to Pioneer Park to view the history of the area.  Tomorrow it's the Arctic Circle or bust!
    
6/20/7 Today was a bit of a bummer.  We left really early for the Arctic Circle and Coldfoot, with high expectations.  The many miles of the gravel, dirt, and undulating potholed paved roads were a risk we were willing to take.  The bridge over the Yukon River was wooden and scary.  The turnout for the line crossing the Arctic Circle was good, but Coldfoot, 60 miles north of the Circle, which was advertised as a great place to visit, was a great big nothing.  All I have to show for it is a postcard of the Dalton Highway!  As for the return trip, we ended up with a big rig putting three more cracks in our windshield and Brett getting a warning (thankfully) for a little excessive speed.  One thing that is really neat tonight is the fact that the sun will set at 2:58 AM and rise at 2:58 AM!
    
6/21/7 We traveled from Fairbanks to Dawson City, Yukon.  A few miles outside of Fairbanks, we stopped at North Pole, Alaska - nice place to see.  On the first leg of our trip, we got an unexpected bonus.  We were able to get our best view ever of Denali (Mt. McKinley).  Traveling on a new highway, we then went to Chicken, Alaska, our last city in the 49th State.  Not too much there except the expression, "I got laid in Chicken".  From there we left paved roads behind the final 40 miles to the Canadian Border.  After reentering the Yukon, the road was 50% paved, 50% gravel to Dawson City.  To get to the city, we had to take a small ferry across the Yukon River. This place is very historic and quite a nice place to visit and spend the night.  In the evening we went to Diamond Tooth Gerties - a casino, floorshow, and eatery.  Lots of fun here.
    
6/22/7 Our journey today took us from Dawson City back to Whitehorse.  The roads were better, the weather perfect, and we added a mother moose and her baby and a porcupine to our list of beasties.  Tried to get a photo of the moose, but she was faster than our camera.  We stopped in historic Carmacks and did a driving tour through this pioneer village.  Our stay in Whitehorse is our third of what was originally scheduled to be only one.  Just shows that an 18 day trip needs to be a little fluid.  This puts us a about a half day behind schedule, but we don't think we will have to eliminate any cities at this point.
    
6/23/7 For today I was just going to tell you to look at my blog from the 14th and read it backwards, since we are traveling back from Whitehorse to Fort Nelson today.  That will work with the following exceptions:  This time we were able to photograph the bear, the one buffalo was three groups totaling about thirty including babies; the Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep on this trek were Stone Mountain Sheep and altogether we saw at least 50; there were no caribou this time but we caught a deer grazing.
    
6/24/7 Change of Plans.  We two weary travelers have decided to scrap Northwest Territory for sometime in the future.  The thought of over 200 miles of gravel roads and three days of very long drives prompted us to change our mind.  Slightly new itinerary:  Go from Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek, BC and then lay claim to having traversed the entire length of the Alaska Highway.  From there we could get to Edmonton, Alberta by tonight; and then face the next four days with much shorter drives.  This leaves us more time to smell the roses.  Add to our critter list a martin and a new large bird that was fawn & white with a large head.  Maybe an owl?  Not sure because of the overall shape of the bird.  Got to see another mom and child moose.
    
6/25/7 Spent the morning in Edmonton looking up Sports venues for Brett and taking a look at the West Edmonton Mall.  I was here seven years ago, but Brett had not seen this wonderful place.  A short drive to Calgary, and we did the sports thing again, plus a visit to the 1988 Olympic Park.  Two and a half days and we will be heading home.  Think we are both ready.
    
6/26/7 Most of today was a repeat for me but all new for Brett. First was Banff, which I had not seen, and then Lake Louise which I had visited before.  The first half of the road from the lake to Revelstoke, I had traversed seven years ago.  Revelstoke is a mountain community that was a pleasant surprise.  We decided to stop here.  We visited a nickelodeon museum which was very interesting.  We also added the gray wolf to our list of critters, and also spied another herd of Big Horn Sheep.  We'll be back in the States tomorrow night, and are very pleased at the thought.
    
6/27/7 A brief stop in Kamloops, our last in Canada, we visited a museum which had a model railroad and a great quilt display. Then we crossed the border back into the good old USA.  This was our sixth total border crossing and the least friendly.  Didn't ask very many questions, but a bit gruff.  Never mind, we saw a mamma and baby deer and made it into Burlington for the night.  Home tomorrow.     
    
6/28/7 A day to sleep in.  We were just a little over an hour from the airport, so all we planned was to let Brett take a picture of the space needle. Things were rushed at the Hertz check-in, and they hurried us along.  I managed to leave my puzzle book on the dash board.  Generally this would not have been a problem, but my handicap placard was inside the book!  Retrospective:  Alaska had some spectacular moments in Skagway and the train, Prince William Sound, and Denali.  The Yukon and Alberta were nice, but overall British Columbia was spectacular from end to end.  The mountains, rivers, lakes and forests were all breathtaking.  See you all soon.